For most people, a smartphone is their main device, containing all their photos, contacts and other important data. Therefore, its failure is an undesirable event. Most often, phones suffer from two types of actions - shock and exposure to liquid. Many people who have dropped their smartphone into water already consider it to be out of order, but in the case of modern and not only models, their operation can be restored quickly.
Rules for drying your phone
The most important thing in this matter is time. The faster you get the device out of the water, the higher the chance of it working. Even models with a high level of moisture protection guarantee operation of the device only for up to 30 minutes under water. If a cable was connected to the smartphone, then first disconnect it from the power source, and only then reach for the smartphone.
The second important condition is to turn off the device. You should not leave it on, even if it seems to be working fine. Also, you should not turn it on after a few minutes to check if it works. Moisture in a working smartphone can lead to a short circuit, which will definitely damage it. Remove the battery if possible, SIM card, memory card, case.
Final steps
When the affected device has gone through all the drying steps, install the battery and return the removed parts, case, and cards to their place.
Turn on and try out all the functions, test the touch screen, headphones, listen to music. Copy the data to the archive.
If the phone does not start, connect it to the charger. If it doesn't start, check the battery - there may be damage.
The best option in case of drowning of the phone is to contact a specialized service center. The technicians will competently carry out all the “resuscitation” actions, and will also fully check the smartphone for functionality.
How to quickly dry your phone
There is simply no universal drying method. It all depends on how badly the gadget was damaged and what elements were flooded. In any case, haste will only make the situation worse. Therefore, you need to dry your smartphone for a long time and carefully.
To speed up the effect, you can choose methods with rice/silica gel and change them as often as possible, every 5-6 hours. This will help reduce drying time.
The worst situation
Electric shock Imagine that your phone is charging, that is, connected to the electrical network, and at that very moment, a mug of tea, coffee or any other drink is accidentally poured onto it.
The first, almost instinctive movement will be to grab the phone and wipe all the moisture off it. This should not be done under any circumstances. You could simply get electrocuted. If immediately after the incident the traffic jams did not go out and the lights did not go out in the apartment, this does not mean that the danger, especially for you, has passed. The first step is to unplug the charger from the network, or turn off the electricity altogether, and only then take any action to save the phone itself.
How to dry your phone at home
There are many options for saving your gadget. Let's look at various ways to dry your phone after it gets into water.
Using a hair dryer or vacuum cleaner
In such situations, many people recommend using a hairdryer as a usual means of drying. However, in the case of electronic devices like a smartphone, it is better not to use a hair dryer. Firstly, air currents can cause liquid to enter other parts where it has not yet been, and secondly, at a close distance, the hot air of a hair dryer can damage some internal components of the smartphone.
It is possible to dry the device with a vacuum cleaner, but this will only work if there is little water ingress; in addition, it will take a very long time to dry.
Is it possible to dry a phone on a battery?
The smartphone can be placed near a heater or radiator to reduce drying time. It is important not to place the device close to the battery, because here the effect on the components will be even stronger than from a hair dryer and you can damage your smartphone. In this case, you still need to wait more than a day for complete drying.
Using the app
After drying out the phone, many users experience muffled sound from the speaker. The Apple Watch has a feature that releases water from the speaker by playing a specific tone. A similar effect can be achieved on a smartphone using the Fix My Speakers website.
Important!
Do this only after it is completely dry.
Drying in rice
The most common remedy used to speed up the drying of the phone is regular rice. It will take at least two days to dry your smartphone this way. Disassemble the smartphone as much as possible and place it in a container with rice. Every 12 hours you need to turn your phone over.
Cat litter
It will take about two days to dry the device using silica gel cat litter, or you can use balls for new shoes. If a large volume of water gets into your smartphone, you need to change the rice/silica gel every 6 hours.
Is it possible to dry with alcohol?
Isopropyl and ethyl alcohol can be used to dry your smartphone. The reason the device fails after water gets in is either a short circuit or corrosion. Alcohol just prevents its appearance. Place the disassembled smartphone in a container with alcohol for 30-60 minutes, then do not turn it on for 8-12 hours. It is very important to use the purest alcohol.
Application of air compressor
A can of compressed air is recommended to speed up drying. Such cylinders for cleaning the insides of a computer from dust will be able to expel moisture from various ports, a microphone, and a speaker, but if the smartphone has received a lot of water, then you should not use compressed air. It will speed up the drying process only when there is practically no water inside the device.
Functionality check
I drowned the phone in water - dry it for 24 hours without turning it on. This rule will help avoid corrosion. After a day, install the battery and press the power button. If the phone does not turn on, take it to service. Explain to the repairman that it is wet. Be sure to indicate the type of liquid - for example, salt water is more aggressive than fresh water. And the sweet one will require complete disassembly of the device to get rid of any remaining sugar.
How to dry the phone is up to the owner to decide. We recommend sending it to a service center as soon as possible. Here the device will be disassembled and thoroughly dried, removing any remaining moisture. Specialists will also replace failed components. Drying at home can only worsen the situation - especially if it is a smartphone with a non-removable battery.
Features of drying various phone parts
After general drying, moisture may still remain in some elements of the phone. Depending on how and for how long the device fell into water, the likelihood of damage to certain elements changes: display, camera, speaker, etc.
How to dry your phone screen
When the screen gets wet, just wipe it with a dry cloth or a special rag that does not leave streaks.
Between glass and screen
After disassembling and drying the smartphone, problems such as moisture getting under the display and deterioration in the quality of the speaker and microphone may become apparent.
In the first case, you most likely cannot do anything; it would be better to contact a service center, where, through proper heating, the liquid under the screen will disappear. By the way, after drying the smartphone with alcohol, its drops can penetrate under the display in the same way. They will soon dry out on their own.
Important.
You need to use pure, preferably isopropyl alcohol, which will leave no streaks.
How to dry your phone battery
It is very important to remove the battery after liquid gets into your smartphone. This is the first element that needs to be dried and set aside.
How to dry the speakers on your phone
If, after exposure to moisture, the microphone begins to work worse, then most likely you will have to replace it. A microphone that does not work well after more than 2-3 days of completely drying the smartphone cannot be restored. In the case of a speaker, a general long-term drying of the smartphone is often enough; if water gets only on the speaker, then wipe this area of the case with an absorbent cloth for several minutes, you can try the mentioned Fix My Speakers service.
With non-removable battery
It is especially dangerous when a smartphone with a non-removable battery gets into water. Today, even the cheapest models are like this. More often than not, a non-separable case speaks of moisture protection, but not in the case of budget smartphones, where such a design will only aggravate the situation. As with any other device, the most important thing here is to quickly turn off your smartphone. Some smartphones are forced to turn off simply by holding down the corresponding button; sometimes you also need to press the volume up button.
For iPhone – power button and volume down, for older models – hold down “Home”, then the power button. Now all that remains is to quickly take the device to the service center, if at the moment this is not possible, then place the smartphone in rice, silica gel, or at least wipe it and wrap it with an absorbent cloth, but then immediately contact the service center.
Cautions and Recommendations
How to dry your phone from water correctly and quickly is now more or less clear. The algorithm of actions is not so complicated. But it happens that when a problem arises, people act incorrectly, as a result of which the device breaks down.
What is prohibited to do
How to dry your phone from water safely for the device - there are additional warnings for this:
It is often advised to put all parts of the device in rice, since cereal absorbs moisture well. But small particles from grains and dust can damage the mobile parts. It’s better to just leave the disassembled gadget in a dry place at room temperature, and it will dry naturally, even if it takes longer.- When drying with a hairdryer, it is better to keep the heated stream of air at a distance from the device so that some fusible parts do not “float”.
- Under no circumstances should you dry it in the oven! Even at the lowest temperature there is a danger of damaging the electronics.
- Do not dry it in the microwave! All microcircuits will burn out immediately.
- Be wary of the advice to wipe your phone with alcohol. This is a dubious method.
- When drying a cell phone, do not heat the battery. It is better to put it separately and dry it at room temperature.
Contacting service
It is possible that if the smartphone was slightly discharged when it fell into liquid, the battery is discharged and you need to charge the phone. If the smartphone still does not turn on, then the internal components are most likely damaged. It would be best to contact a service center.
If you find moisture trapped under the screen or camera glass, then also contact the service center; you should not try to get to these parts of the smartphone by disassembling it or heating it with a battery, hair dryer, etc. Rice and silica gel will also not be able to help here, if in general the device is working normally.
Prospects
Contact with water is a serious test for any equipment. In drowned smartphones, the sound and display are most often affected.
Sound problems may include the following:
- the occurrence of noises of a different nature: hissing, squealing, wheezing;
- speaker sound disappears;
- no microphone sound.
The following problems may occur with the display:
- the appearance of spots, streaks on the screen;
- partial or complete incapacity of the sensor.
Any of these problems interferes with the normal functioning of the gadget and calls into question its further use. If self-drying does not help (and no one can guarantee that the methods described above will cope with the task 100%), you will have to contact a service center.
And this, as you know, costs a lot of money.
How to check a smartphone
Even if the smartphone works fine after drying itself, this does not mean that it will work for a long time. It is possible that some elements have already corroded or there is some water left inside.
Even after successful drying, it is advisable to take the smartphone to a specialist for inspection. Device diagnostics will not be too expensive, and in some service centers it is free.
Alcohol
Another popular method is to fill a drowned gadget with alcohol. The operating principle of this method is similar to the previous one: alcohol also draws out water, while being absolutely safe for contacts and microcircuits.
And there is one “but” here. The alcohol must be alcohol - not vodka or other strong alcoholic drink. Any impurities will only bring the end of the already damaged smartphone closer.
A method that will help remove traces of mineral deposits or water stains
If after drying your phone the liquid left traces of mineral deposits or wet water stains, you can try cleaning these residues with 99% isopropyl alcohol. The latter leaves no traces after drying, dries quickly, and perfectly removes mineral deposits and dirt residues.
Use 99% isopropyl alcohol for cleaning
Use this method as a radical one, since there is disagreement among experts about the harmfulness of alcohol baths for a mobile device.
Before soaking, we recommend removing all removable parts from your phone and wiping them with a clean cloth dampened with 99% isopropyl alcohol. Then set these parts aside and let them dry.
What do I need to do? Find a container that allows you to completely immerse your phone. Pour in enough 99% isopropyl alcohol to completely cover your phone. Soak your phone in alcohol for 15 minutes. Then, without removing it from the liquid, shake it slightly. Wait 10-15 minutes and then shake your phone again.
Immerse your phone in alcohol
After about an hour, take a look at the alcohol your phone is in. If it looks dirty, remove the phone from the alcohol and let the gadget dry a little. Remove most of the alcohol from the phone, empty the dirty alcohol from the container, fill it with new clean isopropyl alcohol, and soak the phone in there for another hour. We do not recommend rinsing the container with water during cleaning, otherwise you will have to dry it completely before adding a second dose of alcohol.
The time it takes to immerse the phone in alcohol is several hours.
After this time has elapsed, remove the phone from the alcohol container, drain the alcohol, and wipe the outer surface of the screen with a clean, dry cloth as best as possible.
Wipe the surface of the mobile phone with a cloth
Isopropyl alcohol should dry relatively quickly. However, we recommend leaving your phone to dry for 24 hours or at least overnight.
In the case of a positive scenario, your phone will turn on and return to 100% functionality.
Removable battery
If the gadget has a removable battery, then after removing it from the water, you should proceed with the following steps:
- To quickly de-energize the phone and reduce the likelihood of a short circuit and oxidation of electrical contacts, you must immediately open the cover and remove the battery;
- Then you should remove the SIM card, memory card and, if possible, disassemble the smartphone as much as possible. During disassembly, it should not be shaken, since the water inside the device can move to hard-to-reach places;
- Next, you need to wipe the device and all parts with a dry cloth or towel. You need to make sure that there are no fabric fibers left, as this may further short-circuit the phone;
- In order not to damage the microcircuits and spare parts, you just need to get them wet and not put pressure on them;
- In order for all the moisture to be drawn out, you need to lay out the parts on a dry cloth (to be sure, you can also use substances that draw out moisture) and leave them like that for a day;
- If after the above steps and assembly, the device still does not turn on, then you must immediately take it to a technician , since the microcircuits could be damaged or a short circuit may be caused.
When to contact specialists
It is worth contacting specialists in the following cases:
- After falling into the toilet, the phone stopped turning on;
- Stripes or any other deformations appear on the phone screen;
- The device stopped charging after drying;
- The phone screen does not respond to touches;
- The body of the device is swollen.
If any of the above happened to your phone, you won’t be able to fix it yourself. At a service center, an experienced technician will be able to repair your phone very quickly, but the cost of repairs can be very high.
Sources
- https://KakOperator.ru/lifehacks/kak-vysushit-telefon-sovety-i-rekomendatsii
- https://vc.ru/yota/91409-pravda-ili-vymysel-mozhet-li-ris-spasti-utonuvshiy-telefon
- https://tablitsa-mendeleeva.ru/lajfhaki/5-luchshih-sposobov-bystro-prosushit-telefon-ot-vody-v-domashnih-usloviyah/
- https://ok-wifi.ru/telefony/kak-prosushit-telefon.html
- https://RosInkasTorg.ru/stiraem/kak-ubrat-vlagu-iz-telefona.html
- https://xchip.ru/2020/06/14/3-sposoba-vysushit-smartfon-s-nesemnoj-akb/
- https://zen.yandex.ru/media/apple_sapphire/kak-spasti-telefon-upavshii-v-vodu-5cb242f9f5fa5400b4014f92
